It's A Wonderful UnLife
by Cari7
Summary: Angel is given a helpful push in the right direction (takes place before the events of "Offspring". Disclaimer: I don't own any of them... it's all so sad.


**It's a Wonderful Un-life**

Angel slammed into the block wall and slid to the ground.

_That's going to leave a mark_. He thought.

A nest of vampires shouldn't be this much trouble. Too bad the vamps didn't seem to know that.

"Angel! Watch . . . " Cordelia's shouted warning came to him as he got to his feet.

He crouched slightly, ready to attack but there was nothing to fight. Confused, he looked around.

A moment ago the abandoned warehouse had been a war zone full of vamps and his team, intent on killing each other. Now it was completely silent.

"Hello?" he called out finally.

"Hello yourself." a faintly familiar voice said from close behind him.

Angel whirled around, prepared to attack or defend-whichever was called for- then stopped, staring in disbelief at what he saw.

"Your eyes do not deceive you. I am who I appear to be." The female Oracle told him.

Angel blinked. The Oracles of The Powers That Be, one male, one female, had been killed by Vocah in an attempt to cut Angel off from The Powers.

And yet one of them was standing before him.

"Stop gaping at me like a lower being." The Oracle scolded.

"Vocah. . . killed you." Angel managed to say.

"Yes." The Oracle sighed. "And I still do not care much for being dead. Be that as it may, it seems to be how I will remain."

Angel had a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "So if you are dead . . .then I'm . .?"

The Oracle raised an eyebrow at him. "Dead? As opposed to being un-dead? Yes, I am afraid so."

He stared at her in silence for a moment. Then he shook his head. "That's... no, that can't be right."

"I felt much the same way when it was my time." The Oracle said sympathetically. "But it is the truth. Accept it."

Angel paced toward the place where he had seen Gunn battling with a vamp. Nothing. Not even a scent. Wesley had been taking cover behind some steel oil drums, protecting Fred, who had insisted on coming. Again, there was nothing there. "Cordy!" he shouted. Only his echo answered him.

"Angel," The Oracle said softly. "I know it is hard to accept..."

"Hard to accept?" Angel spun around to face her. "Impossible is more like it! Do you have any idea how many fights I've been in? The demons, the monsters, the. . . the. . . _things_ I've fought? Are you seriously going to tell me that I got dusted by a _vampire_?" He stalked over to her, hands unconsciously balling into fists. "The one I was fighting couldn't have been more than 50 years old!"

The Oracle gazed steadily at him. "He threw you into the wall."

Angel glanced at the wall. He raised his hand to his forehead. He'd hit it pretty hard. "Yeh. Ok, he was strong. But it takes more than that in a fight."

"And it takes but one stake in the heart." The Oracle placed her hand on Angel's chest. "Perhaps it was a lucky blow for him. Whatever the reason, it was unlucky for you."

Angel sat down on a packing crate. "If I'm dead, why am I still here?" He glanced up at her, suspicion drawing his eyebrows together. " I don't remember wishing I'd never been born so I hope you aren't going to go all Clarence on me."

The Oracle frowned for a moment. "Ah..." she said. "I recognize the reference. But I see no reason to show you how the lives you have crossed would have been different without you. You have changed many lives, Angel. Ended many others."

Angel winced. "I see your point." he mumbled.

The Oracle shook her head. "You say 'If I'm dead'. You do not accept that you are dead, do you?" She sighed again. "To answer your question, you are still here, waiting for me. I've come to transport you to where you will go. You are a Champion of The Powers That Be and deserve such honor. But I can not do that until you have accepted your fate."

Angel looked around the warehouse. It looked the same as it had- minus the battle of course. The crate felt solid beneath him. He shook his head. "Something is wrong here. I don't know what it is, but I know I'm not dead. I... I have too much more to do."

The Oracle made a clucking sound of annoyance. "I knew this would not be easy. It is why they sent me: I always had more patience with your stubbornness.

"The first time you came to us, you could not accept that you had become mortal. The second time was because you could not accept that becoming mortal would mean your lover's death. You convinced us to take it back. You came to us a third time, an unprecedented event I should add, when you would not accept Doyle's death. When we would not change that, you would not accept that it was not your fault he died. Deep down you still feel there must have been something you could have done to save Darla. You fought for her, willingly would have given your life, yet you still think there must have been something more you could have done. This behavior has driven you when others would have given up, it makes you a Champion. But when entering a fight, you must accept that you may be defeated. I say to you that this is the end. Accept that so you may move on."

Angel bowed his head. She was right of course. There was always a chance, in any fight, that he wouldn't come out of it. He'd failed before, as she said. But, again, as she pointed out, he hadn't accepted that as the end. Even when Buffy died, he had been able to get back up and carry on. "You know," he said softly. "I was dead once and I didn't much care for it. So I'm going to have to say no." He raised his head and met her gaze. "I do not accept that I failed."

The Oracle stared at him for a moment, then smiled. "Well done Champion. You will need all your stubborn, un-acceptance of defeat in the near future if you are to prevail. What is to come will try you on all levels." The Oracle began to fade away, her voice becoming fainter.

Jumping to his feet, Angel shouted at the disappearing Oracle. "That's it? All this and that's all you are going to give me?"

"I've given you all I can. Remember . . . there . . . is . . . always. . . a. . . way. . ."

"OUT!" Angel's eyes snapped open at the sound of Cordy's voice. The vampire bending over him was inches from slamming a stake in his heart when Angel grabbed his wrist. Angel tightened his grip and the vamp's eyes went wide as the stake fell from his suddenly numb fingers.

Angel pulled the vampire off balance and slammed him into the block wall. "Hurts doesn't it? he said, leaping to his feet. Looking down, he saw the stake and picked it up. "But not for long." The vampire was a pile of dust by the time Cordelia got to his side.

"Are you ok?" she asked, eyeing the bump on his head critically. "From over there it looked like you were out of it."

Angel looked at her for a moment, then his gaze traveled over her shoulder to the rest of the team. The fight was over and everyone was alive. Again.

Cordelia frowned. "So... were you? Out, I mean."

Smiling slightly, Angel looked down at her. "Yeh. For a minute I was dead to the world."


End file.
